


Another chance at life.

by I_never_was_a_uke



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: A hateful Claude, Alois is very different, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anger, Angst, Ciel is still Sebastian's master, Dramatic Alois, Everyone Is Gay, Jim is Alois, M/M, Mostly because of upbringing, POV Changes, Reincarnation, ciel is a demon, more characters will be added, more tags will be added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-15
Packaged: 2019-02-27 05:27:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13241394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_never_was_a_uke/pseuds/I_never_was_a_uke
Summary: Claude is forced to wander earth in search of Alois, now reborn with a new chance at life.Will Claude find a way to get the soul he lost because of his avarice or will Alois finally be given the happy ending he has yearned for across both of his lives?





	1. Regret isn't the right word...

The death of Alois was quick, painless but oh so bursting with emotion, the same could not be said for Claude’s death, as his was slow, painful and oh so humiliating. Going back to Hell was no walk in the park for the demon either, especially when he arrived just as hungry as he had left.

Claude had become greedy, as it would be expected from any demon, and from this foolish greed came an error in his plan that ended in his death. Claude was overly ambitious, trying to devour two souls with only one contract was a feat no demon has accomplished, many other demons would have applauded him had he succeeded.

However, there would be no cheers or celebration, there would only be incompetence and rejection. Since Claude was not able to feast on any soul he would be stripped of the many abilities demons were known for due to the immense starvation he was suffering. As if that was not enough for Claude, he was denied entrance into his realm. Millenia of hard work, lost in less than one day.

Claude asked one of the gate keepers what he must do in order for everything to be right once more.

“What can restore me from the depths of my wrongs? What can save me from ever agreeing to care for that mistake of a master?” Claude’s voice laced with venom as he mentioned his former master. Oh, how Claude hated the little blue-eyed pain, even in death Alois was a thorn in his side, the only difference was that now the thorn had pierced his very existence, forcing the demon to fall to a low he had never thought possible. It was all Alois’s fault, after all, it was Alois who had fallen in love with him.

_‘He is to blame, he and no one else. Oh how I wish I could have ended his life sooner than having to endure a worse Hell than any I had inhabited before.’_

The answer was almost amusing to the gate keeper, it probably would have made the man believe in a higher power when he was alive with how poetic it was.

“If you ever wish to regain your power and your status,” Claude listens intently as to not miss a single word. “You must find the one you have wronged and complete the contract. Only if their soul is with you can you walk through this gate again.”

Claude could only blink in disbelief, he never wished to see the brat for the rest of all eternity, now he has to try to find him?

“But… he is no more, I killed him myself.”

“If you’re lucky, Haven might have given him another hand at life, if he’s lucky, another hand and no memory of his past life. But you must find him, as you will wander aimlessly until you do.”

With that, the gate keeper sent the demon off, now unable to do much more than what a regular human can. In fact, Claude didn’t even know if Alois would even live again, all he could do is wait, wait and wallow in his disdain for the one who needed him the most.

-Eighteen years later-

It had been a long, fruitless day for the former demon, former because nothing of Claude even resembled the former man he had been. Now looking old and rugged Claude could hardly be seen as Claude anymore.

It had been eighteen years too many where Claude traveled from city to city, sometimes even country to country, and yet no sign of Alois or his new life. Without that life to look forward to, the life had drained from Claude, what little was left of his demon abilities succumbed to the hunger. The first part of his body to begin to fade was his face, wilting from it’s formally handsome state to what it was now, the rest of him soon followed after.

It was such a shame, how such an arrogant demon was now nothing more than a wretched, dirty old man with no reason to live except to reflect on his mistakes.

It was only when he entered a shared hostel had Claude finally regained life. On the front page of one of the local newspapers was nothing more than his master Alois, a picture of him at least, and under a different name, one that didn’t sit well with the former demon, but all the same made his eyes glow a long unused shade of fuchsia.

At the drop of a hat, the middle-aged woman holding said newspaper watched Claude transform from the elderly, bitter man he had begun to look more akin to the younger, more handsome demon he once was, but he was still far from being his full demon self. There was only one thing he has to do to achieve that though.

“Jim… Macken.” The name caught on his tongue, “That name is unbecoming of you.” Taking the paper from the shocked woman’s hand to fully read what had happened to the boy. “And what’s more, you have become an entertainer, an actor no less. I don’t regret saying that this career of yours will be cut short the moment I find my way to you…”


	2. Hunger is a terrible feeling

Jim stood center stage, tears staining his cheek as he fell to his knees, nothing but his cries of anguish could be heard across the auditorium. Many of the rows of people held back their tears as very few had seen such strong emotion portrayed by anyone. The blonde boy cried atop of a woman’s body, and while not much was shown of the woman Jim sure sold the fact that this woman was supposed to be his mother.

With a finally cry the heavy curtains closed and within a minute all of the participants of the play made their way to the front, a bright smile on each of their faces as they bowed before the crowd. An immense cheer shook the room as roses were thrown to the stage, one in particular just within reach the blue eyed male, causing him to catch it and admire the odd-looking rose before finally exiting the stage.

With a soft huff Jim sat in front of his mirror to remove the running make up when the rose caught his eye again.

_‘Is it painted? I wonder how they got it to turn black…’_

-In the crowd-

“Master, it’s rare to see you outside of the manor, even less in a place as crowded as this,” Sebastian stated, waiting for his master to enter the carriage.

Ciel made his way inside, his deep blue clothes making him almost indistinguishable from the darkness of the night sky. Ciel ignored Sebastian’s question, much to the other demon’s irritation.

“I will not be in the manor next Friday, and when that day comes around, I’m going to need more of those roses. One is just too pitiful.”

Sebastian bowed, a knowing smirk on his lips. _‘So, the young master has found someone he is fond of… ‘_

“Certainly, my lord, forgive me for my previous incompetence.”

-Back with Jim-

After the play, all the actors decided it would be best to celebrate at a nearby pub, a bright smile lighting each of their faces. Jim especially was excited for this, he hadn’t gotten the chance to go anywhere besides his hotel and the theater so it would be nice to spend some time out.

About an hour into the outing and with Jim drinking what he thought wasn’t too heavy, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Dancing and off-key singing filled the small building along with the drunken laughter of people they had just met.

Everyone was having a good time until the woman who had just previously played Jim’s mother pointed at Jim’s back and began to yell.

“Jim there’s something crawling up your back! It’s on your back! Kill it!”

With that everyone sobered up, Jim sprang to his feet and began attempting to get the creature off of him. He winced in pain as he felt a pinch on the back of his neck and a single drop of blood falling from the bite. Finally Jim managed to swat the thing into the table where it began to crawl away.

Jim wasn’t having this, grabbing a nearby knife he began to stab what could now be identified as a horrifying black spider an irrational amount of times until finally the blonde felt that it was dead.

“It had to be a spider, I hate those disgusting things.” The pale blue-eyed male stated, obviously shaken due to his death like fear of the beasts.

With the room having gone horribly silent, everyone felt that the celebration shouldn’t continue, everyone heading home besides the male that played Jim’s rival and Jim himself as the rival was accompanying him to the hospital to get the bite checked.

 With a small check up the bite was deemed poisonous and the antivenom was injected into the bite.

“Now keep the bite covered and the mark should disappear within the next few days.” The doctor explained as she placed a bandage at the back of Jim’s neck. “You’re a lucky young man, had you come here any later the venom would have begun to paralyze you.”

Jim’s eyes went wide, this made his fear of spiders even greater.

“The strange thing about this,” The doctor paused, pondering what she was about to say” these spiders shouldn’t even be in this country, this is the first case of them ever being documented outside of America.”

“Well those bloody spiders should have stayed there! Or at least far away from me!” Jim was upset, everyone could see that.

After paying the duo left, a stern look on both male’s faces.

“You know you didn’t have to yell at her right?” Jim’s former rival said, turning to the blonde as they made their way to the hotel.

Jim’s face dripped into one of regret, opening his mouth to say something but choking on his own words, as if he was unsure of what do say.

“Let’s try to get what happened tonight out of our minds, why don’t we go out together tomorrow?” His former rival stated, to which Jim happily agreed. “That way you can finally meet my girlfriend!”

“Oh, so she finally agreed? “Jim cocked an eyebrow. “By the way, this time don’t get too mushy on me! Last time you and your last girlfriend almost got me sick with how sweet you were being!” The two finally reached the hotel, they were happy it wasn’t too far of a walk from the hospital

“Oh that’s rich coming from the guy who literally keeps a book of dreams and wishes under his pillow at night!” The former rival screamed into the middle of the lobby, Jim sure hoped no one heard him.

“…. Does anyone else know.” Jim’s cheeks were tinted pink as they reached the staircase, Jim’s room is on the second floor

“Not another soul.” The other male swore on his heart with complete sincerity.

A soft smile graced Jim’s lips as they finally had to part ways as his friend’s room was one floor above.

“See you tomorrow!” Jim waved.

“See ya!” With that, Jim entered the room and threw himself on the bed.

-At the pub-

The pub owner didn’t know what was coming for him, he was just closing up the doors as it had already reached midnight. Yet, just as he turned there was a dark figure standing next to the spattered spider, doubled over as if he were in pain.

“How did I miss…” The air chilled around the owner.” Sir are you alright? We just closed up but there’s a hospital nearby.”

A growl was heard coming from the dark figure. One of hunger and pain.

Claude felt like falling to the floor, the single drop of blood from earlier smelled so satisfying, so filling, had it not hardened already he would have thrown himself on the floor to lick it up.

The single drop was enough to cause him pain, but the image of his master bleeding and calling out to him was enough to bring him to his knees.

_‘I remember when I would tend to your wounds, sometimes ones you would inflict on yourself just so you could have me all to yourself… ‘_

The pub owner watched the tall male fall and runs to his side to try and help him up, but a strong hand grips his arm, holding the poor man in place.

_‘ I always thought your soul would taste disgusting when I finally had it from how sickeningly sweet you were, but coming this close to tasting it has reminded me…’_

The owner knew that something was wrong, he tried to pull away from the demon, kicking and hitting as hard as he could but it was useless.

“How I truly was **_starving._** ”

With that the poor man’s life ended, his blood was sweet, but not the kind of sweet Claude was looking for, like the kind of fake sugar that only made you crave the real thing as soon as you finished. Claude left the building, knowing this would be a reason for Alois to return tomorrow, all he had to do was wait.


	3. The eyes of two lives.

This was a day of tragedy amongst the people of the town, a family lost a father, the police are losing sleep and innocent people are being questioned. However if Jim were to look just beyond what was in front of him he would find the one who had begun this terrible act of violence.

 

Jim was only here to be questioned, as were the other actors who were seen at the bar, but seeing as how yesterday was already terrible the young blonde saw this as an extension of the day before.

 

After about an hour of waiting Jim was called in, putting on his look of annoyance he entered the small, dark room and sat on the chair with one leg over the other. When the man questioning Jim entered the room the eighteen year old’s demeanor switched entirely.

 

The man in front of Jim was handsome, extremely handsome. While he looked slightly boyish the look in his royal blue eye was enough to make the actor’s annoyance melt and his heart flutter as if he had a swarm of butterflies living inside of him. With a charming smile the detective sat down in front of him. The mere sight of Ciel was enough to leave Jim in a daze, now that matched with a voice that sounded mature but had a slightly familiar ring to it was enough to completely shove the poor boy into his own thoughts, only to be saved by the same one causing him this enchantment.

 

“Jim? I said that we could start now.” Ciel spoke, a slightly amused tone in his voice as he sat back and began asking the typical questions like, “Where were you at the estimated time of the murder?” or, “What was your relationship to the victim?” But one question did catch the blonde off guard.

 

“What was your mental state of health last night?”

 

This caught Jim off guard, just a moment ago the detective was almost having a bit of fun with him, as much fun as anyone could have in this situation, but now the other male’s gaze gave off a slightly cold edge. This caused the blonde to pause for a moment, taking it as a sign that he could either lie and say he was feeling fine, or come clean about his violent outburst.

 

“I... “ Jim took a small breath and set his sight to the ground. “I was perfectly fine last night, a little shaken up due to the spider bite but otherwise I was… Fine.”

 

“I see…” _‘He’s lying, there’s something he’s not telling me...’_

 

 _‘Did he notice? Does he suspect anything?’_ Jim questioned to himself, a slight feeling of panic filling his chest.

 

“I guess that is the end of it, at least for now.” Ciel concluded and finished writing, but decided to ask one last thing before Jim left. “But… Would you like to meet me when the day is over? Maybe over coffee or something of the like?”

 

This was so innocent Jim couldn’t help but giggle at this attempt at flirting, making a small nod before finally letting the blue haired male continue.

 

“Then I’ll wait for you in front of the plaza, we can go from there….” Both Ciel and Jim were making their way towards the door but Ciel stopped him. “My name is Ciel by the way,” Ciel pointed at the purple choker Jim used to cover the bandages. “And purple suits you very well…”

 

Jim’s face flushed pink as they both left the room. A leering gaze followed the blonde as he  was about to part ways with the detective. The gaze came from another woman at the police station, the daughter of the pub owner roughly pointed at Jim before she started screeching that it was Jim who killed his father. The police were about to take action before she began to state her reasons for this.

 

“Look at the boy’s eyes! They’re disgusting! He has the eyes of a monster!”

 

The police stopped in their tracks, the woman seemed to be going mad, yelling and kicking, to the point the others watching were scared she would attack the blonde.

 

An almost foreign feeling of disgust tainted Jim, he wanted to react the way the woman expected him to, he wanted to go and **hurt** her but he didn’t know why. All the actor could do was clench his fists and glare at the woman but only for the smallest moment as this very reaction scared even himself.

 

It took awhile for the police to get the daughter to calm down, she still insisted it had been Jim the one to kill her father, but the police couldn’t make an arrest based on the look in someone’s eyes alone so Jim was allowed to go home. There was something that everyone failed to notice though, on the inside of the woman’s dress clung the smallest of spiders, having already bitten into the soft flesh of the scared lady.

 

Jim wanted this day to be over, at that moment he was terrified of himself and didn’t know what to do. At a quick pace he arrived to his hotel room and locked the door, a strange sort of self hatred and disgust of others coursing through his veins. He felt as if he was going to throw up.

 

 _‘No, this isn’t right, this isn’t me, I-I don’t hate anyone, at least I didn’t hate-’_ That’s when Jim caught a glimpse of himself in the bathroom mirror, he was staring back at himself with malicious intent, the orbs now a blue akin to murky water. A brief image of an unfamiliar man hitting him with a cane flashed through his head and caused him to break the mirror.

 

“What’s wrong with me..?” _‘Was that really me?’_

-Later, at the plaza-

 

Jim gave a meek wave to Ciel, just enough to grab his attention.

It didn’t take long for Ciel to realize that Jim was still bothered by earlier, the way the long would never hold his gaze for long, turning or setting his attention elseware. It was a strange form of wake up call to the demon, seeing someone he had admired think so little of themselves.

 

“You do know she was wrong, right?” Ciel decided to speak, taking a slice of the cafe’s cake for himself and a salted caramel brownie for Jim. Neither of which were actually prepared by the cafe’s chef, if not by Sebastian who decided to keep an eye on the two from afar.

 

“What do you mean?” Jim started by tasting a bit of the caramel, he always enjoyed things a bit more on the bitter side as opposed to Ciel’s extreme sweet tooth by the look of it.

 

“I actually like the way you look, I have for a long time.” With one swift movement, seemingly out of nowhere, the bluenette pulled out a black rose, one similar to the one that had captivated Jim the night before. “ I almost forgot to mention, I have been a fan of yours for quite a while now.”

 

“Oh, is that so?” Jim cocked an eyebrow, the mystery of who was giving him such lovely roses was finally solved, and the answer did not disappoint.

 

With that, the rest of the night went amazingly, the two just getting to know each other, although it was more Jim speaking and Ciel listening intently, a cheerful end to a terrible day. Jim had even gifted Ciel a white rose in return for the black one, not caring much if he pricked his fingers on the thorns but it was overall a sweet gesture. This night had been a great night, that could not be said for everyone though.

 

Off in the distance, just outside the sight of the blonde, the dark figure that would begin to haunt his dreams stood there, not making a move to advance or to return, just waiting. Waiting for the blonde to return home for the night.

 

With a small wave and promises of meeting up another day, the actor and detective were now separated, leaving the detective to deal with Claude.

 

“What is it you want Faustus?” Ciel spoke aloud, within an instant the former demon now stood behind the earl, his usual calm mask hiding his true intentions behind this meeting.

 

“It seems you have caught my master’s heart.” An obvious tone of jealousy in the yellow eyed demon’s voice. It was almost insulting how an immature demon such as Ciel could be closer to the soul that rightly belonged to him than he himself. It was a blow to Claude’s pride and he needed to repair it fast if he wanted to be able to control himself.

 

“He is no longer your master.” Ciel was cold, not wanting to have to continue this conversation for much longer.

 

“But I still hold as much power over him as I did in his past life.” **Alois** was still in love with Claude, the former demon was sure of it, even if **Jim** was not. There wasn’t any way that Alois was not in love with him, could there?

 

“You hold no such thing, you are nothing but a lowly bug trying to catch the prey that has already escaped it’s grasp.”

 

“If you are so sure about that, why not make this a game?” Claude suggested, knowing from experience that Ciel would not resist it.

 

Ciel said nothing, only taking a small step forward to listen more intently.

 

“Whoever makes my master’s greatest wish come true is the one who gets to have him.”

 

“And what might that be?” Questioned Ciel, not having bothered to ask Jim something so personally.

 

“He wishes to get married, something rather childish but it should be expected of someone like him.” How Claude knew this, especially about Jim and not Alois as he never bothered to listen to the former blonde was beyond Ciel’s comprehension. But in reality it was quite simple, the little outbreak with the woman earlier was what allowed the former demon the ability to sneak into Jim’s hotel room.

 

The daughter was dead, and the book of dreams and wishes was now in Claude’s possession.

 

Ciel took his time to think this over, the last few hours had cemented some of his feelings for the blonde, many of them, in fact and the grand majority of them being positive. After a moment Ciel agreed.

 

With that the two exchanged roses, Ciel looking fondly at the one Alois had given him earlier and even giving it a final sniff before painting it in his own blood.

 

Claude would believe that Ciel’s blood would have been the most tempting, maybe even to the point of overpowering his hunger for his former master, but something had gone wrong.

 

The earl’s blood had gone vile, smelling of a savory fruit that had gone bitter long ago, that alone almost making the former demon gag. Yet there was a hit of sweetness found around the stem, making it at least somewhat bearable to have around him.

 

Ciel returned to Sebastian some time later, who had been asked not to meddle with anything that was happening.

 

“Master, would you mind telling me why you accepted something that was as blatantly a trap as that?” Questioned the butler, hoping this time to get a response from his master.

 

“I wanted to play a game, and there are very little games I have wanted so desperately to win as this one.” Ciel stated, “So I ask you, the demon who has lived millenia longer than I have, how to win over another person’s heart.”

 

A devious smile crawled upon Sebastian’s face, planting itself permanently on there. “ I thought you would never ask..."


End file.
